Just what the title says, a guy I've never met before messaged me on my personal phone number, addressed me by my first name and invited me for drinks at the suburbs I live at. I arrived to Australia less than 2 months ago on a WNH visa and I'm married, guy claimed I gave him my number at a bar I've never been to.

I did some research online based on his number and found out he works at the ATO, which is how I assume he got my information from. I confronted him about it and he started insulting me, so I blocked his number.

Lodging a formal complaint on the ATO website would be enough or should I contact other authorities? I'm quite shaken up by whole situation and frankly I don't know what to do. Any advice I could get would be very helpful.

​

Hi all,

My partner and I are renting in NSW and this is our first rental. Honestly, this whole situation has turned into an absolute cluster fuck and we genuinely don't feel safe in our own home anymore.

Our neighbour appears to have significant mental health issues and substance abuse problems (mainly alcohol from what we can tell). I obviously don't know the neighbour's diagnosis, but the behaviour has progressively escalated.

Incident 1 - October 2025

The neighbour became convinced I'd hacked their phone and bank account because they started acting up about two months after we moved in.

The neighbour spent hours aggressively talking to themself before coming to our door at 3am, asking what I did for work and threatening physical violence.

We called police. They spoke to the neighbour but never took a statement from us.

We notified the landlord and agent, who told us this was the neighbour's first strike.

The neighbour apologised about two months later.

Incident 2 - A few weeks ago

The neighbour now has a girlfriend who stays over occasionally.

For 5 consecutive nights, between roughly 10pm and 4am, they screamed, argued, threw things around, and we could hear the girlfriend crying.

My partner and I both work 9-5, so after trying to be understanding for several nights we eventually called police.

I recorded some of the screaming from inside our unit and sent it to the agent/landlord to demonstrate what we'd been dealing with.

Incident 3 - Last two nights

This has now escalated significantly.

Since receiving a breach notice, the neighbour has become fixated on the fact that we provided recordings.

The neighbour has repeatedly directed racist abuse at us because of our ethnicity, alongside repeated threats to kill us and seriously assault us.

This goes on from late at night into the early morning.

Sometimes the neighbour stays inside yelling, other times opens the front door and deliberately walks past our bedroom window while continuing the abuse.

I confronted the agent about why the neighbour knew it was us. They told me they had to provide the recordings to the third-party housing provider the neighbour rents through in order to issue the breach notice. I have no idea whether that's actually required or not, but the end result is the neighbour now knows it was us and the threats have escalated.

Apparently this is the neighbour's second breach notice, and they say a third means automatic eviction. Honestly, who TF is even counting at this point? I would've thought the 3am confrontation would've counted as one.

Police response (last night)

Police attended again and finally gave us an event number.

They told us the previous two attendances weren't even recorded as police events, so there's effectively no history. Honestly... pathetic.

They viewed some of our recordings and gave us a portal to upload the evidence.

They said they'd return later because the neighbour had gone to sleep while they were speaking with us.

They also said audio recordings alone may not be enough because the neighbour could argue they were talking to themself or on the phone, since we don't have video.

To make things even better, a couple of months ago we also received notice that the landlord wants to increase our rent by $50/week when our lease ends in September.

At this point:

We don't feel safe.

We can't sleep.

We're moving back to our parents' place this weekend, at least temporarily.

We'll be providing the latest recordings to both police and the real estate.

My questions are:

1. What can we actually do legally in NSW?

2. Can we terminate our lease without penalty? Also get some rent credited back due to the fact we have to move out

3. Is an ADVO realistic in these circumstances?

4. Is there anything else we should be doing to protect ourselves? Baseball bats or pepper spray (probably not this lol)

It honestly feels like we're the victims here, yet we're the ones having to leave our home. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

---TL;DR: My partner and I are renting in NSW and our neighbour has repeatedly threatened us with physical violence, yelled racial abuse, and kept us awake through multiple police-attended incidents over the past 10 months. The situation has escalated after the neighbour learned we provided recordings to the real estate, resulting in breach notices. We no longer feel safe, are temporarily moving out, and want to know what legal options we have, including whether we can terminate our lease without penalty, apply for an ADVO, or take any other action.

Hi everyone,

I confirmed that the Informant does work for the Police. However, a lawyer said I shouldnt be arrested and finds it odd that the Informant is so intent on it. The Informant also said it would be better if he interviewed me. My local Police station reiterated that anyone can interview me and I shouldnt feel so pressured by him.

However, I just want to prepare for the worst. I have no family here. I recently lost a new job due to a delayed flight. And I just got out of an abusive relationship.

I just have nowhere to go if I am required to stay in the country. Legal Aid said its just simply telling the Police my situation. I dont think the Police are going to be empathetic either.

My plan is call to around different emergency housing options. I am so scared, my ex said he was going to ruin my life and get me deported and it all seems to be coming true.

Thanks (:

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice about a used car dispute in Queensland.

I bought an unregistered Mazda 3 from a private seller. After the purchase, I discovered that the VIN number the seller originally sent me was incorrect, which meant I couldn't see the vehicle's write-off history before buying it. When I later checked the actual VIN on the vehicle, I found it had previously been recorded as a written-off vehicle. I also discovered there were issues with the Roadworthy Certificate that prevented me from transferring the vehicle.

We agreed to unwind the sale. The seller refunded the AUD 5,800 that I paid by bank transfer but denied receiving the AUD 2,500 cash that I also paid. I'm currently pursuing the cash separately.

The problem now is the vehicle.

The seller left before taking the car back. Since then, I've repeatedly told them they are welcome to collect the vehicle, but they refuse to do so. Instead, they keep demanding that I drive it more than an hour to a location they choose.

I'm reluctant to do that because:

The vehicle was unregistered at the time of the dispute.
It has mechanical warning lights that appear while driving.
I don't think it's safe or reasonable for me to drive it such a long distance.
I've already told the seller they can collect it from where it's currently stored.

My questions are:

Am I legally required to continue storing the seller's vehicle indefinitely?
If the seller refuses to collect it after being given reasonable opportunities, what should I do next?
Is there a point where I can stop being responsible for storing it?
Should I continue documenting my communications and attempts to arrange collection?

i went to Kia last week to look at potential cars that i was interested in buying. i had taken one out for a test drive, and the salesman asked if i wanted to have a look at how much it would all cost in total with extras, model etc. so i said sure. we went inside and put it all together how i would like it, and he slid across the sales contract to me to sign. however he didn’t state that it was a sales contract, he just said ‘sign this and i’ll take you over to finance to see what we can look at for repayments’. stupid me without reading it, signed thinking it was more of a ‘holding fee’ if i was further interested, as i had told him i wasn’t looking at purchasing within the next few months.

after paying the deposit of $1000, only because i had been advised i could not change my mind, i had walked out of Kia in tears realising i had somehow ended up financing a $50k car as a 20 year old. I messaged the Finance Manager the next day letting her know i was not interested anymore and believed it would cause me massive financial distress, which was met with rudeness over the phone just pushing in my face that i had nodded my head while we spoke money in the office the day before. she did not give me any option to get a refund or cancel the agreement.

i understand there’s no cooling off period for a new car in QLD, however i believe i was deceived into signing the contract as it was not explained to me and they are not letting me pull out of the contract. it is a subject to finance contract, however i highly believe it would be approved so i can’t depend on it being rejected. can i please get some advice on what i can do, my anxiety is absolutely insane about this as they are still calling/messaging about getting the documents to send off to finance to get approved.

Hi guys. I’ve recently had someone reach out to me with an ai photo of my partner claiming they cheated on me with a whole story of context. I easily figured out it was Ai and the info didn’t add up. The photo is of my partner sitting in another persons lap. There are no faces and the image doesn’t have sexual connotation to it, but the outfit is what my partner was wearing that night. The person who sent it doesn’t seem to have shared this with anyone and their primary goal seems to be getting me to break up with my partner. They now have said they’ve deleted the picture and haven’t/wont share it with anyone else. Can I take this to the cops for defamation and find out the identity of this person and get them into trouble?

Edit: if the person caused me brief emotional distress can I sue them?

Further details:
-Photo had no face or sexual connotation
-Photo was of a unique outfit my partner was wearing sitting in a guys lap
-I found out quickly it was AI I called it out
-the person provided details of the ‘event’ as well as brief sexual details such as her ‘holding it’ got ‘hard’ and ‘one thing lead to another’ although it was very brief and under detailed
-the person said they just said what they wanted to express it and won’t bring it up again or talk about it

Although they only sent it to me, can I still sue for defamation and get the courts to find out the identity of the messenger?

After 6 years, my best friend [ever!] was made redundant (along with dozens more employees) and received a package per company calculation, which seems to be accurate. Her key day-to-day tasks were given to another person in the business.

After catching up with friends she realised that she was offered half the number of weeks others received and is really upset.

While chatting, she mentioned that in the prior year she had no (zero) performance reviews, and no meetings with her manager to discuss performance, strategic planning etc. Note that during the year she had 2 direct managers and neither had done so. On the other hand, the manager managers were providing various requests however, none was of a real planning or with a proper business thinking. Also in the previous 5 years she received positive feedback about her performance and was given annual bonus.

Finally, during the redundancy period the company advised that they would carry out a "consultation period/process", however she has no interaction whatsoever with HR or management.

Question - 1. can she go back and ask for additional pay? (I don't think so, but keen to hear your thoughts) 2. Can she approach the FWC because of lower number of weeks offered vs others? 3. Can she approach the FWC because of no management direction or performance review which may have helped her carry out different tasks and thus may not be made redundant?

1. Anything else to consider?

Hi everyone,

I work casually at Woolworths, and I'm looking for some advice because this situation has really annoyed me.

A few weeks before the roster came out, I had a phone call with my line manager where I told her that I wouldn't be available for the first two weeks of July, but after that I'd be available on most days. During that time, I had also updated my availability in WorkJam, marking Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st July as unavailable. For some reason, it looks like that availability never synced across to UKG Pro, because I ended up being rostered for Tuesday 21st July.

As soon as I noticed the shift, I messaged my manager on Wednesday explaining that I was unavailable on Tuesday and asked if she could please have someone else cover the shift. I also said that if any other shifts became available later in the week, I'd be happy to take those instead.

Her reply was:

> "Thanks, any shifts come up and I will offer them to you first."

To me, that clearly acknowledged that I couldn't work on Tuesday and that she'd look at replacing it.

Fast forward to Sunday, I checked UKG Pro again and the Tuesday shift was still sitting there. Thinking maybe it had simply been forgotten, I messaged her again asking if someone else could cover it because I was still unavailable.

That's when the conversation completely changed.

She told me that my availability showed I was available and said if I didn't find someone to cover the shift, I was expected to come in. I explained that I had already set my unavailability in WorkJam and wasn't sure why it hadn't carried across.

She also replied in our team chat to a message where I had told a coworker:

> "I already told Kass about it but I'm not sure if she's assigned it to someone else."

Her response was:

> "You actually didn't tell me and it says you are available. Please don't use me as an excuse."

This really bothered me because I had told her days earlier, and her own text saying she'd offer me replacement shifts seemed to acknowledge exactly that.

To make things worse, she then called me and said things like:

> "If you keep doing this, I have no use for you."

and

> "You won't be getting any shifts next week."

That honestly felt like a threat over something that wasn't entirely my fault. I had updated my availability, informed her in advance, reminded her several days before the shift, and even offered to work replacement shifts. If WorkJam didn't sync properly with UKG, I don't see how that's something I should be punished for.

Am I overreacting here? Has anyone else working at Woolworths had issues with WorkJam not syncing to UKG Pro? And if your manager threatened to stop giving you shifts over something like this, would you take it further with the Store Manager or People & Culture?

I'd appreciate any advice.

TL;DR: I marked myself unavailable in WorkJam, told my manager over the phone in advance, and reminded her again several days before the shift. She acknowledged my message and said she'd offer me replacement shifts, but later claimed I never told her, accused me of using her as an excuse, and threatened to stop giving me shifts if I didn't cover a shift I genuinely couldn't work. I'm wondering if this was handled fairly and what my options are.

My grandparent passed away about 4 years ago and the estate still hasn’t been finalised.
The executor is my step aunt.

The main asset is a house that still hasn’t been sold despite years of updates saying it would be listed “soon”. Every six months it’s been a different ‘reason’ for the delay.

I’ve asked for an accounting of the estate and haven’t really gotten anywhere. There are also issues around jewellery that was specifically left to me and my sister (by name) in the will, my aunt told me she distributed it to various members of her own family and used the words “as promised” and “grandma was sneaky and promised it elsewhere” this happened before I obtained a copy of the will - which she was not forthcoming with (now I know why)

Before filing anything I wrote to the executor asking for an accounting and giving her an opportunity to respond. Her response was just nasty gaslighting re jewellery and more fictional dates of when the house will be listed

I’ve now filed an application in the Supreme Court of South Australia asking the Court mostly due to the delay (4 years since probate was granted) as I feel the estate warrants oversight.

My grandma also kept a large cash stash, which I have no doubts will be missing from her “inventory”

Taking a family member to court isn’t something I ever wanted to do.
From a legal point of view, does this sound like a reasonable step after four years? Or is this something people would generally be expected to just keep waiting on?

Thanks in advance

Hi,

I'm thinking about taking my rejected WorkCover injury claim to the Victorian Magistrates' Court after exhausting all the review options.

If I represent myself and lose, can the Court order me to pay the employer's or insurer's legal costs?

Thanks.

A recruiter placed me in a specialised 12-month contractor role with a large organisation. I signed a contract with a fixed start date in early July. That date is now 3 weeks ago and I've had no confirmed start or on boarding, the agency just keeps saying they're "waiting."

I had to resign from my permanent job on the spot to be available immediately, I've now gone 3 weeks without income.

Is the signed contract with a stated start date binding on them? Am I owed pay from that date, or compensation if they keep stalling or pull the pin? And what should I be putting in writing now to cover myself?

probably a more uplifting question than youse are used to getting!! it's my first time posting so I apologise if this isn't right. I have OCD and reddit scares me.

wording this carefully because I don't want to skew my own data, but I run a fan account related to a very specific aspect of the federal government. It's not a political account in any sense, I literally just really love this one specific agency and I have checked with the official account before to make sure this is okay. It's very clearly a fan account, not impersonating, etc etc etc.

long story short I made a Mii of the agency's logo, including a very small, simplified, pixelated version of the coat of arms. if I was to share images of said Mii for non-commercial purposes, would that be okay legally? in what situations would this be considered misleading?

I'm not worried about being sued or anything, I just don't want to cause trouble for my favourite agency!

I am using a throwaway account to ask something regarding a private serious matter. I am looking for advice on how to report a dog attack that last occurred last year September.

For context I have been avoiding this person and her dog the past 5 years since I have first spoken to her about the behaviour when it attacked me a few times while walking around the house but she instead dismissed it and and told me it won't do anything and to just grow up and stop being selfish. This was in late 2020. In 2021 I decided to talk to her in person about this and then she got and angry and resorted to shouting and yelling and trying to play victim saying that I'm scaring it by asking why it is okay for it to attack me for bringing her mum her pills and water and just kept shouting at me to shut up, then stormed off, coming back the next week with the dog to act as if it never happened and that I was the one being crazy. A few months later of me sitting behind a gate while she and her dog did whatever they liked in the open and I was consistently prompted to pet it I told her and her mother no a final time and then she went back to accuse me of having done something to do it, to which I didn't respond because I knew she would just scream back. This person was in her late 20s. Since then I have just been avoiding them altogether and leaving home whenever she comes, which I have to find out myself and still do today. The times she came were never clear, and occasionally she would also come unexpected and again would give me a spiteful look as she put a gate around me like I committed the worst crime for bringing it up in the first place.

Until last year when she had to return due to financial circumstances. I decided not to do anything about and just see how she would handle it herself when she realises what is going on. As I predicted, two months into her stay her dog went to lunge at me when her mother told me to unpack something for her and it bit at my arm for about 15 seconds until the owner got it off. She then took the dog outside and I left home to cool off. When I came home in the evening there was a gate behind her room where the dog now was and since then just barks and growls whenever it sees me and she repeats the same words over and over again, calm down, which does nothing.

There was no closure on the attack and I was expected to do nothing about it and her mother threatened to me if I reported it that it would be my fault if anything happened to it. The next morning I was washing my dishes and she just walked the dog past me and nothing happened, but then days later, when I did the same thing and passed by them it triggered it's behaviour and instead of controlling the dog she went to get angry at me instead for walking and asked why I couldn't have waited for her to finish. Note I have gone no contact for years with this ex family member who has only been trying to get angry at me for having asked if I can walk but also if I can't read her or her dog's mind. If she wanted me to wait she could have said so but instead expected me somehow make the prediction that I shouldn't walk even though she herself has walked the dog past me even after the attack. Again I cannot say anything against this person or confront as she will just get angry so I was considering reporting to rangers or police for coercive control. Nothing about her for the past years of refusing contact with her says she is actually taking accountability apart from acting like a victim as if I did something to make her dog like that and I'm in the wrong for being petty. I never looked at her or her dog and refuse to give them any attention and that has only warranted more hostility from their side.

Things have returned to as it was when she moved out again but still comes every week and the cycle has repeated again where I have to predict when this person comes just so I can be out of the way. If she ever came unexpectedly and I was doing something in her sight I guarantee she would be pissed at me for being in the way and how she would have to wait for me to do my things (or she'll just roll her eyes and pass since she thinks her dog won't do anything).

It is coming close to September and I do not think for the number of times this has happened that she is going to take any accountability or responsibility for not listening to my initial concerns and then getting angry at me for doing what she wanted which was to ignore the behaviour. I'm honestly sick and tired of this person deflecting and trying to make the problems she chose to have into mine as soon as I spoke out. She decided she was going to have a puppy of a guardian breed that she herself couldn't handle to begin with and then intended on controlling how I would live just to control its behaviour and would just get angry if I said anything about it as if I shouldn't have the right to have a say on something that I am involved in.

I was and still am unable to remove myself from the house as this has been going on since I was 14. I am 19 now but am still dependent on living here. I am looking into social housing just to avoid her entire family's religious and cultural bullcrap on worshipping and making excuses for something they had no knowledge about but purchased it just to make themselves look good and thinking it would be fun. For how long this person has had the dog, since 2018, I don't want the dog to get put down but at the same time I cannot think that just letting her get away with blaming me for it is going to make anything better. Last was a near miss only because she had a leash on and even by not defending myself in all attack incidents and by not giving it attention she is still angry at me for making it happen would rangers or police go about to investigate this if I were to make the report and statement? I am only hesitant because if she or her mother found out I broke silence on this topic I could get into trouble at home and I don't have the financial means to move out yet.

How would rangers or police go about to investigate this? There is going to be a lot of questions for her on why she thinks it is ok to blame me living for its behaviour and why she over-personifies something of this nature as a child (and even as a child why she would give it a pass to act with double-standards because I'm doing unnecessary things at the wrong time). She is not going to be happy to answer any of them. Or instead, what else can I do to protect myself or gather evidence of their lack of control?

This was a family I used to be part of at least while I was still sucking up to them and blindly doing whatever they wanted without questioning as a kid. I only think about financial consequences because I guarantee I will need to move out before making a report like this that would enrage the whole family, and that these would be after me because I did something about it.

TL;DR: Irresponsible dog owner in family blaming me for dog attacking me for doing things at home

Long story short, I was groomed and taken advantage of as a teenager by someone working at my school as a teacher-in-training. Years later I find out they’re still working with children as a sports coach. Is there anyway I can try to stop them from working with children or flag them in the wwcc system?

Unfortunately I have basically no hard proof that this occurred, except for my word, the word of a family member who stepped in, and maybe the abuser’s university disciplinary board who was notified.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I have no doubt that, because of the almost textbook way the abuser sought me out and succeeded in isolating me from almost anyone that could have helped me, I was the first and last child she took advantage of.

Edit: Unfair Dismissal

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for thoughts on if this situation would merit a FWC claim as I believe it does, posting here to get feedback from others who are more knowledgeable on this subject than me, keeping things anonymous for privacy:

I’m an expat living in Australia on a SID482 and have been here just over a year & am largely unfamiliar with the law & legalities.

I’m in a sales role and came out here to join a team that I’d worked with remotely for just under a year, that is a growing satellite office after working for the HQ in US for 1.5 years.

After lots of turmoil the People manager role I was supposed to take was changed/removed from plans and I was instead offered an Individual contributor role, selling into an assigned industry vertical.

What I didn’t know at the time and what I began to find out, was that there hadn’t been any strategic planning by leadership or preparation to carry another IC contributor for the assigned vertical, especially given the mandate of only operating within in said assigned vertical.

For context, we are a small team and the dynamic since the beginning of the year has taken a drastic downhill turn, with a gossipy, juvenile-like approach to everything from in office conduct to partnering on projects. There became a group of people that were “in” and myself and a few others that were considered “out”.

Where I believe I have a case for FWC is that this culture of favoritism, facilitated and participated in by our boss, led to significant advantages given to only certain people and others, including myself, facing significant disadvantages which impacted ability to perform.

Examples:

- biased territory allocation: more sales territory given to favorite employees with purposefully mislabeling territory to coverup misalignment

- Clear favoritism in terms of Manger’s time allocation: multiple 1/1’s with my manager were cancelled with limited or no notice. Accompanied by long drawn out response times along with clear distractedness. Other members of the team did not face consistent cancellations, but rather had increased support.

-Lack of comms with manager for extended durations, after repeated specific requests for support, and was repeatedly met with lip service.

- A struggling peer of mine received overwhelming & tangible support to help achieve their metrics, including manager requiring other teams to dedicate additional resources to that person. When I faced similar struggles, manager took no action nor worked to find me support.

- A support staff member (who works with the whole team) and I struggled to achieve results together, and during the process of trying to fix things, others encouraged the support staff not to work with me, so as to ensure they received more time allocation from support.

There are further examples but to be concise, all of this along with admitted bad luck, led to falling 62% short of given performance metrics.

Recently my manager & HR approached me with a behavior and performance warning that proceeds a formal performance review period of which the timeline is ambiguous past “showing marked improvement”.

I truly believe that this team culture along with leadership failures have led to my inability to achieve target goals, making a firing for performance unjust.

Happy to respond to questions/comments, from what I’ve shared does this seem to warrant an adverse action claim?

Currently on workers comp for psychological injury and just been informed my position is being made redundant. Does this mean my WorkCover payments will cease?

My barber did me dirty, someone tell me if it’s hate crime. Can I sue?

I was a casual employee. After I followed up , by email about wages I was owed, my employer suddenly claimed there was “suspicious activity” caught on office CCTV and that they wanted to discuss it in person before “reporting to the appropriate authorities.” This was the first I’d heard of any issue, despite the footage apparently being from a while before I even raised the pay issue.

I resigned in writing shortly after, made clear I wanted my unpaid wages processed separately from whatever this “concern” was, and handed back full access to everything (accounts, files, etc).

Since then I’ve had accusatory messages accusing me of taking something, being told to come in person “or I’ll take official action,” and some pretty ugly language thrown at me. I’ve denied it clearly and consistently, in writing, every time. I’ve now blocked them.

The footage being referenced shows nothing more than ordinary, explainable actions — nothing that shows taking anything.

Hasn’t gone anywhere formally yet, but I’m stressed about the possibility of a police report and not sure what to expect if that happens. Anyone been through something similar — an employer using a vague “investigation” as pressure after being asked for owed wages? Fairly new in Australia

Hi everyone,

I'm after some advice before my VCAT hearing on 28 July (telephone hearing).

My housemate and I needed to leave our fixed-term lease early, so we contacted our landlord and arranged what he repeatedly referred to as a lease assignment. We paid another month's rent as well as the administration fee, professionally cleaned the property, moved out, returned the keys, and I spent weeks conducting inspections and finding replacement tenants.

Eventually, the landlord approved a replacement tenant. He confirmed to me that she had signed a lease, and the replacement tenant also told me she had signed a new lease/new contract, not a transfer of ours.

A few days later, the landlord claimed the lease was "null and void" because the new tenant hadn't paid the bond and first rent within 24 hours. However, I have emails showing he continued communicating with her about payment several days later and didn't immediately tell her the agreement had been terminated. He also admitted in an email that he hadn't checked her references before approving her.

He's now applied to VCAT claiming:

• we abandoned the property;
• we owe another month's rent;
• he should keep our bond.

I have emails, texts, invoices, receipts, key handover messages, and screenshots showing we were in constant communication, that he knew we'd moved out, that he asked us to turn the electricity back on after we'd left, and that I continued finding tenants on his behalf.

My question is about evidence.

The hearing is on 28 July, but my landlord hasn't uploaded any evidence yet. I have a fairly large evidence document (around 16 pages) ready to go, but I was waiting to see what he would upload first so I could respond to it.

Should I upload my evidence now anyway, or wait to see if he uploads anything before the hearing?

Has anyone been through something similar with VCAT?

Another great report from Ben Smee who has covered a lot of QLD police/gov failings towards DV.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jul/21/the-queensland-government-promised-to-put-victims-first-instead-it-buried-a-report-from-domestic-violence-survivors

Looking for some practical advice on where this sits legally and what the right next move is.

On 30 June I ordered a PS5 Pro from Target's website for $1,299. The order went through, and the next day I received an official Order Confirmation and Tax Invoice. About 20 minutes later, I got a second email saying the order was cancelled due to no stock.

I told Target I was happy to wait for stock rather than cancel outright. Heard nothing for over a week, so on 9 July I asked for a refund instead. Target agreed and said it would land in my account in 3-5 business days.

Worth noting, around 19 July the same PS5 Pro came back in stock on Target's website, but this time at the full RRP of $1,398, roughly $100 more than what I'd paid. So it looks like they may not have been genuinely out of stock so much as unwilling to honour the $1,299 price once it went back on sale at a higher price. That's part of why I'm sceptical of anything they tell me at this point.

After the refund was agreed on 9 July, things started going in circles. On 14 July they contacted me saying there was a problem with my bank details, even though I'd already verified everything with them by phone on the 9th. I gave my details again and asked for written confirmation, which came back with a new timeframe of 5-7 business days. Still nothing. When I chased it up again this week, I was told the refund was actually sent on 13 July and would take 3-10 business days. I pointed out the obvious problem: if it was sent on the 13th, why was I asked to re-verify my bank details on the 14th? Their answer now is that the 13 July transfer failed, so they reinitiated it on the 14th, and I need to wait another 5-10 business days.

At no point have they been able to provide a remittance advice or any proof that a transfer has actually been made.

I've already lodged a complaint with Consumer Affairs Victoria. They looked into it and told me Target's conduct likely breaches several sections of the ACL (misleading conduct, false representations about availability, and accepting payment for goods they couldn't supply), but CAV's role is limited to conciliation, and they've said if Target keeps stalling, VCAT is the next step. I've sent Target multiple emails referencing this, including a final notice with a deadline, and they've continued to just push the timeline back each time.

At this point I have zero confidence Target will actually pay this back without further pressure, and every deadline they give me turns out to be another story.

A few questions:

1. At what point does it make sense to actually file with VCAT, rather than keep giving them more days? Is there a minimum number of follow-ups or time period expected before VCAT will take a case seriously, or can I file now given the pattern of behaviour?

2. Has anyone actually gone through VCAT for something like this? How long does it typically take from filing to an outcome, and is it worth the time/cost for an amount like this ($1,299)?

3. Does the fact that the item reappeared at a higher price shortly after change anything legally, e.g. in terms of misleading conduct or bait pricing, or is that more of a moral point than a legal one?

4. Should I be documenting anything specific going forward (e.g. call recordings, specific wording from staff) to strengthen a VCAT claim, given they still haven't provided any remittance advice? I already have all emails with their "refund time frame".

Appreciate any insight from people who've dealt with something similar, or anyone with direct experience taking a retailer to VCAT over a refund dispute.